Mike Beamish: Is there an NFL audition in Jennings' future?

One issue of many that plagued the Arizona Cardinals last season was inconsistent punting, a fact made evident when the National Football League team looked north at the end of 2016 and signed Richie Leone, the thunder-foot free agent from the B.C. Lions.

Leone was part of an exodus of five free agents from the Lions who signed “futures” contracts with NFL teams. But this much is certain: while he may have taken up a new area code, Leone left part of his heart behind.

“Honestly, I’m here to see Don (Sweet, the Lions’ kicking consultant) and I miss my friends,” Leone said Monday, at the team’s training facility in Surrey. “When you have some free time, in the football season, why wouldn’t I want to come up here? I love this place. And I heard Jonathon (quarterback Jennings) was going to be here.”

Leone is something of a reverse snowbird, leaving the Valley of the Sun where he’s in training, for Surrey, where Jennings’ only target on the practice field Monday would have been a stationary snowman.

“It’d be nice to throw but, as you can see, there’s a lot of snow out there,” Jennings said. “I’ll have to save that for a later time. It’s 55-60 degrees (Fahrenheit) back in Westerville (Ohio, where lives). It’s nice. I hear it’s been crazy here.”

For Jennings and veteran backup Travis Lulay, quarterback school began Monday, three days of intensive classroom work — and a strictly indoor affair if the snow stays — with offensive coordinator Khari Jones. Third-stringer Keith Price and rookie free-agent quarterback signing Alex Ross of Coastal Carolina aren’t involved.

“We’re going over what we did well last year and just trying to improve on that,” Jennings explained. “Watching some film. Going over what we want to install (offensive plays) for next year. What we need to do to be a better football team.”

Newly married (Dec. 31), Jennings is training on his own in Columbus, Ohio, where he’ll return on Thursday to continue preparations for his third CFL season and second as a starter. The Lions open training camp on May 28 in Kamloops.

In 2016, the Lions’ game plan consisted of judicious running and lots of passing. In 2017, it will consist of more running and probably even more passing, with a conspicuous weapon in Chris Williams added to the existing aerial circus.

“It doesn’t put any more pressure on me,” Jennings said. “The pressure’s going to be there, regardless. Guys are going to expect me to throw for 5,000-something yards anyway. That’s a minimum. That’s the floor. That’s where we’re going to start.

“I want to be the best out there. I’ve got to continue to grow and hint that I could be the best.”

By the end of 2018, when he completes his current contract with the Lions, Jennings still will be only 26, a year younger than the CFL’s most outstanding player Bo Levi Mitchell of the Calgary Stampeders is now.

Is there an NFL audition in his future?

“I think that’s a possibility, for sure,” Leone offered.

“I feel like the potential is there,” Lulay added. “I know we’re committed to winning here in 2017, but Jonathon should get legitimate (NFL) looks, just because he’s proven he can be a productive starter at 24.

“I think it would be crazy of them not to be interested. I think he would get a legit look, if that’s the road he decides to go down.”

There are certain characteristics common to franchise quarterbacks, and Jennings seems to have most of them. When he drops back, his eyes are looking downfield, and he’s not easy to fluster, even when facing the heat of the rush.

At his current rate of accelerated growth, the only thing that might keep him from joining Leone, Adam Bighill, Alex Bazzie, Bo Lokombo and Anthony Gaitor as an NFL prospect is a very important one: his position.

“Who knows?” says Lions GM Wally Buono. “But the NFL, in my mind, this year went after a very select kind of athlete. Whether defensive ends, linebackers or defensive backs, they went after athletes who can run. Richie (Leone) and Derel Walker are the only two non-defensive players signed by the NFL.”

Walker, the CFL’s second leading receiver last year with the Edmonton Eskimos, agreed to a two-year deal with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

While Buono said Leone “wowed” the Cardinals at his workout, just as he did for two seasons as a Lion, the GM was thinking about the eventuality months before it happened. The Lions already had opened up communication lines with Swayze Waters, the CFL’s 2014 special teams player of the year, well before Leone left.

“I have confidence in him (Waters),” Buono said.

Just as he trusts in his quarterback’s acceleration up the learning curve.

Comments

We encourage all readers to share their views on our articles and blog posts. We are committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion, so we ask you to avoid personal attacks, and please keep your comments relevant and respectful. If you encounter a comment that is abusive, click the "X" in the upper right corner of the comment box to report spam or abuse. We are using Facebook commenting. Visit our FAQ page for more information.